


Stars

by TheFairysPath (friendlyneighborhoodfairy)



Series: The Path I Took (WWTDP 2018) [11]
Category: Fairy Tail
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Chest Wounds, Cuddling & Snuggling, F/F, M/M, POV First Person, Protectiveness, Stargazing, Trans Male Character, binder
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-14
Updated: 2018-10-14
Packaged: 2019-08-01 21:33:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,804
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16292210
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/friendlyneighborhoodfairy/pseuds/TheFairysPath
Summary: One of the Twin Dragons is gravely wounded. The other tries do do what he can to help, but he doesn't know if it'll be enough.(Fic #4 forWhen We Take Different PathsMLM week.)





	Stars

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt = stars + Stingue.

I can't breathe. I'm running so fast, breath cutting through my lungs. Can't stop. Sting needs me.

Behind me, the dark streets are silent, dripping. The rain is hardly a drizzle. But the thunder—it rolls out like a muffling carpet. On and on.

I push myself faster.

There's a sharp pain in my left leg, but I can't stop to inspect it; can't stop to see if it's a gash or just the muscles screaming—surely that, right? Not a wound from the fight, not dripping dark scarlet down my shin.

Fuck. I have no time to think.

The shadows call to me, but I can't duck into them. On the one hand, if I go into them now I'll never come out. On the other, I physically cannot: my magic is depleted.

Which is why I'm running through the rainy night while Sting lies behind me somewhere, unconscious and bloody and who knows what else.

I feel I've been running for hours. The guildhall rears up and I shout before I reach the doors.

"Help!"

The thunder drowns me out.

"Help!"

I crash through the doors like a bolt of lightning, and with the pounding my ears, I can't tell if the hall was quiet or if my entrance silenced it.

"I need help!" I scream.

"Rogue?" Yukino's in front of me, scanning me and trying to catch my eye. "Calm down. Where are you hurt?"

"Me?" I stare at her. "Not me."

My stomach is still sprinting, churning and rolling as the world tilts. I can't stand still, can't take any more—I vomit on the floor.

"Where's Sting?" Minerva demands. Her firm voice takes hold of the situation, eases me into a state of following directions. That I can do.

"Left him," I gasp, wiping my mouth. "Hurt, and—I have no magic—"

"Rufus." Minerva whirls around. "Where did they go, do you remember?"

Rufus tilts his head. "They took that mission north of Clover—"

"Great. Stand right there. Orga!" she bellows. "Get over here; it's easier to move you if you're in fucking reach."

"Huh?" He lumbers over. I stare around at the four of them, still panting like I'm dying.

"We," she says, "are going to save our guildmaster."

* * *

Rogue is coming for me.

I know he's out there; I know he ran off to get help. I just wonder when he'll be back. Because I'm lonely, and I'm scared. I can't move and my head throbs with my pulse, which beats in my ears.

I don't know what happened to me. I can't remember. It's all blank. I know, cognitively, that we left for a mission together. I remember walking beside him on the road, our shoulders nudging, Rogue's little grin hidden behind his hair. I remember making him tie it back while we were in the forest so I could see him better; he's so embarrassed about his scar when we're in town. I remember his movements, his gestures, his laugh.

I know we were doing something, hunting for clues. I don't fully remember what the mission was—Rogue is the one who handles the details. I remember we found something or someone, and I remember a fight, but in my memory it really wasn't that bad.

After that, it's all fuzzy. At some point, I was conscious, but I don't remember that, either. It's all just pain and the cold wind and the silence, and the absence of Rogue at my side.

But I know he'll come back for me. He always has. I trust in Rogue with my life.

My hands start tingling and I'm not sure if that's good or bad. Does that mean feeling is coming back, or leaving me? I open my eyes and see only the dark again, but after a moment, I see through the branches above me pinpoints of light.

Despite the occasional wet drop that falls from the tree onto my face, the sky is clear. The stars are tiny and numerous. There's so many of them, and they're each so powerful and huge and far away, and I feel miniscule in comparison. My pain is miniscule, and my broken body is miniscule. I am just a speck in existence, and that's okay.

I sigh and imagine Rogue beside me, staring up at the stars. He will point out different ones and tell me which planets they are. He will tell me everything I ever wanted to know.

* * *

Sting's there beneath the tree where I left him. His eyes are open.

My heart shoots into my throat. People  _shut_  their eyes when they pass out, they don't stare at the sky, they don't—

I see his chest move, and I almost fall over.

When I reach his side, I collapse, letting my face lie in the mud by his arm and taking his hand in both of mine. Yukino looks at me in concern, but she keeps her focus on Sting, checking him over, doing things I don't recognize and don't try to.

I can't look at his wounds. I know if I do I'll throw up again, or pass out, or feel so much guilt that I'll do something stupid.

"Rufus," Yukino murmurs, and enlists his help, giving directions which I don't listen to.

Minerva and Orga are guarding the boundaries, scouring the dark for prey. I know they're long gone: I wouldn't have left Sting if there was still danger. I would stand over his body fighting enemies off until I dropped.

The things Yukino and Rufus do make various sounds, mostly rustles and the occasional wet squelch because of the mud. But Rufus shifts something while Yukino holds Sting down and there's a  _crack._  Not like magic: like breaking bones.

I jerk at the noise, squeezing Sting's hand in a death grip. Yukino and Rufus are panting, working fast, and I can tell from the pitch of their voices that they're worried.

"He's got to stay unconscious—oh no," I hear Yukino say.

"Rogue."

It takes a moment for my mind to figure out whose voice is talking. And then I look up and in the dark I can see Sting's eyes looking back at me. His head is tilted to the side at an uncomfortable angle, and he's heaving weakly for breath, but he's talking.

"Rogue, darling." He coughs.

"Yes? Yes. I'm here," I say, shifting across the slick grass and roots to curl up right at his side. He's so cold. I don't know how I didn't notice before. Shivering, I wrap myself around the parts of him that aren't receiving medical attention, hoping it helps.

"Rogue," he whispers again. "Did you see the stars?"

"What?" I blink and look up, peering at the branches above us.

"The stars. You told me which ones are which. You made up constellations. It was wonderful."

I don't know what he's babbling about, but I have no chance to ask, because he breaks off, eyes rolling shut. Still hugging him, I stare up at the tiny lights, so distant and still. They make me feel huge, looming, like all the pressure of the world is on me while the stars just sit there in their little spots in heaven.

"Sting…" I say, but I realize he's lost consciousness again.

I start crying, putting my cheek against his.

"Please be okay," I hiccough.

* * *

I open my eyes to the ceiling of the Sabertooth infirmary. There's an even, quiet breath beside me and I smile knowing he's okay and sleeping peacefully. He needs it.

He's cold against my side, but that's why I'm lying in the bed with him. To help him. Because I love him.

I glance at the clock.

"Rogue," I murmur, rubbing a finger over his cheek.

There's an indecipherable mutter.

"Time to wake up. You have to take meds."

Rogue shifts to press his face into the pillow, resting his hand on my chest with his middle finger pointed out. I laugh.

"C'mon, sleepyhead." I jostle him. "If you don't, you'll just spend the day coughing and I won't be able to let you out of this room. Guildmaster's orders."

"You're not the boss of the infirmary," he grunts. "Yukino is."

"Yeah, but I'm her boss."

"Says you," Rogue grumps. Sitting up, he sulkily watches me cross the room and retrieve the two bottles of pills.

"Just two more days and you'll be officially pneumonia-free," I say cheerfully, handing him a glass of water.

"Can't fucking wait."

"I know, love." I perch on the bed and kiss his temple.

I can tell he needs his space right now: grumpy morning Rogue often does. I head to the adjoined shower where I've been keeping my things during Rogue's sojourn here—ha, as if I would go home and sleep in our bed without him—and get dressed. By the time I'm out again, Rogue is humming something haunting in a minor key and stretching. Stretching  _carefully,_  because too much physical exercise is still dangerous for him.

He blinks when I walk back into the room.

"You're binding again," he says.

"Yeah, finally." I laugh, looking down at my flat chest. It still makes me nervous that I'm going to look down and have breasts: I spent over a week like that, feeling disoriented and outside my body every time I did. There's still a massive scar down my chest and always will be, but I'm less concerned about that. Scars are badass. Natsu-san has an incredible array, and I have yet to catch up.

Sinking onto the bed beside Rogue, I take his hand and caress the back of it sweetly.

"How are you today?"

"I'll be okay."

When I meet his eyes, Rogue is blushing.

"You're here, after all," he murmurs.

I'm about to say that's the sweetest thing I've ever heard out of him.

"You're alive," he says.

I choke up and can't speak. He was so worried. Yukino sternly told him that he got sick because of his worrying (and because of being out all night soaking wet, injured, and exhausted).

"I can't be anything else with you around," I tease gently. "You'd pull me out of death's claws yourself."

He blushes harder. "Yeah, probably."

"C'mere."

I wrap him in my arms. Rogue melts into me, weary and sluggish with his head on my chest. I rock him back and forth.

"Do you remember talking to me about the stars?" he asks.

I blink. "Vaguely?"

"You talked about how beautiful they were, and said I'd told you the names of all of them."

I laugh. "I might've been a bit delirious."

"You were. They were beautiful, though."

"I'm sure."

I squeeze him tightly and Rogue sighs against me.

"Let's not go through that again, shall we?" I say.

"No, let's not."


End file.
